Raptors

[Belexus75]

This team will go nowhere unless they add a superstar and those dont grow on trees. Yes Scottie is very good but he is not one of top players in the league and you need at least 1 of those to go anywhere.

[PenguinHunter]

Ingram signed an extension.

Anyone one surprised?

Did the Raptors over pay?

120M over 3 years.

Hasn't played more than 64 games int he last 9 seasons.

[blayze]

$40M for that guy is insane

[PenguinHunter]

$40M for that guy is insane

That was my gut reaction... but I am only a casual basketball fan.

[blayze]

That was my gut reaction... but I am only a casual basketball fan.

He's a good all-round player, but he ain't $40M good lol. Also a bit of a bandaid boy.

Raptors management loves the tall, lanky guys who can play good defense and get in the passing lanes. They always stretch for those players. Barnes, Anunoby, Boucher, etc.

[hockeyrobot]

Ingram signed an extension.

Anyone one surprised?

Did the Raptors over pay?

120M over 3 years.

Hasn't played more than 64 games int he last 9 seasons.

Pretty frigging crazy given their situation/

[2014olympicgold]

His contract breakdown is (estimated):
2024-25: $36,016,200 (33rd overall) Current deal

2025-26: $38,095,238 (37th overall)
2026-27: $40,000,000 (37th overall)
2027-28: $41,904,762 (29th overall) Player Option

He was eligible for 2 different extensions if he hit FA. 5yr $269m or 3yr $144m. So this is slightly below his potential max.

[metaldude26]

I saw somewhere that this is the fourth straight year the Raptors have traded a 1st to get a guy on an expiring contract. I don't know that this was the most egregious version of this type of deal but highlights a troubling trend for the Raptors. Seemingly, they are doing this because they struggle to attract players in actual free agency so instead they make these moves and fall into the "Bird Rights Trap". Because a team can go over the cap to re-sign their own player they kind of become obligated to do it, or the player will walk, so this is how you end up with contracts like Ingram's or Quickley's.

There is a bit of a trend where the contracts in basketball are climbing so fast that the numbers are entirely unrelatable. $40M for Ingram isn't even that close to what the highest paid guys are making but is still just a boatload of cash. He and Quickley, Barnes and Barrett for that matter, are all good players. $25M or more a year is what good players make these days. That said, none of these guys would be the 2nd best player on a team going anywhere. Maybe they figure with some lottery luck and some Scottie growth and some better health that this squad has legs next season. Maybe they figure Ingram, even at that price is a better player/asset than anything they'd have gotten with that Indiana 1st. It's just hard to see the upside in a team with a bunch of overpaid #3s.

Anyhow, this sort of contract was inevitable the second they traded for Ingram. Ingram's been looking for this type of money and it's why he's been available for over a year now. New Orleans probably would have given him away even cheaper. The Bird Rights trap coupled with an undesirable market ensured that the Raptors would overpay. Just like they overpaid Quickley. At least it's not an untradeable 5-year deal. Nevermind that no other team was going to offer up this type of money for Ingram (or for Quickley). And so now the Raptors have a lottery team that is slated to cost over $230M (9th most in the NBA) next season. What a time to be alive.

[Axeman33]

Sounds more and more like the Blue Jays. Overpaying for meh.

[PenguinHunter]

Sounds more and more like the Blue Jays. Overpaying for meh.

Who plays more for their respective team in the next 365 days?

Scherzer or Ingram?
Percentage wise... or even total games played?

[blayze]

It's disappointing as a Raptors fan.

I was ok with 3 years of rebuild post-Kawhi. Then we landed Barnes which was a big win and things were looking. They should have just kept tanking, draft a few more solid picks for 2 years and you're in good shape.

But no, let's be the Leafs of 2000-2020 and keep signing recycled talent at overinflated prices while trading away our future.

Now we have to endure another 2-3 years of 8-11th seed. Bad enough to miss the playoffs (or squeak in to get eliminated in first round), good enough to miss out on a primo draft pick. What a colossal failure.

[2014olympicgold]

To be fair, the drafts have been blah the last few yrs outside of Wemby and Banchero.

2024 - blah. Risacher has shown he might be a good secondary guy.
2023 - Wemby then potentially players. Raps did get Gradey at 13
2022 - Banchero then meh guys. Raps traded the 20th overall pick this yr.
2021 - Barnes
2020 - Flynn at 29th.

There's a reason why teams that are at the top of the league are not the teams who drafted high these years.